Name of Commissioner: JoyMason
Website/C.com gallery: http://joysutton.com/Costuming/
Character commissioned: Terra (Final Fantasy VI) Necklace and earrings
Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item: http://joysutton.com/Costuming/wp-co...2/Terra-07.jpg
Timeline (how long your order took to process): A while, which I will explain in the comments section
Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments.
I found JoyMason to be very professional. I finally was able to sneak in a private message to her and she was trilled to do this commission for me. The item is accurate and well made, and she gave me progress pictures. This was my first time commissioning something from someone and I'm glad it went to smoothly. Will defiantly order from again. Highly recommended!
The only con was a communication bump but it got resolved with ease and I don't hold that as a very big problem.

Character commissioned and series/video game (please include if this was the entire costume, just a jacket, prop, accessory, wig, etc.): It was just a base wig for Misa Amane from Death Note.

Timeline (how long your order took to process): I think about 4 days all together. My bf ordered it April 8th and it just arrived today on the 15th. I think it was sent out Sat as he ordered Fri night. So it's about 3 or 4 days. Very fast.

Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments: No cons at all other then being a bit pricey, I think just a little over 40 dollars with shipping. Funny thing was epic cosplay was cheaper then the cosplay.com store even if only by a few bucks and they're the same wigs. Cosworx brand ones any way.

I messaged them too, asking how long it takes to ship them out and then how many days it takes to get to me. They replied within 2 days.

All in all the Cosworx specialty wigs are very nice, so soft and very realistic looking. Worth the extra money especially if you have the money to spare for a nice wig.

And I don't think it matters where you buy them , epic cosplay or the cosplay.com store. I only bought from epic cosplay because I had a bad experience with the cosplay.com store, mostly when they had Japanese wigs it got stuck in customs for a few weeks. Nothing to do with the quality of the wig.

Also, the wigs are a bit thin, so if your going to style one be prepaired to add wefts. I just put pig tails in mine and you could see the wig skin thing really bad, but I figured out how to style it with out exposing the wig skin.

what i got:http://i52.tinypic.com/mtmqki.jpg
Timeline (how long your order took to process): march 27-april 14
Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments.
pros-
the bangs
-shipping
cons:
- looks nothing like picture on the website
- too short in the back to even style in the part or points
- not styled at all
-different color than picture on the site.

I m very disappointed , i order from them before and the wig were styled and prefect. I have no clue why this one was a fail.

Get this i left them a negative review and pmed them telling them i wasnt happy. and they emailed me back trying to convice me to change my review to postive. I ignored them , im not changing my review . i didnt get what i paid for.[arp 26: they have messaged me three more times asking me to change the review from negative to positive. im ignoring them , because i didnt get what i order so, im not changing the feedback. i hope they dont keep bothering me its annoying]
Final Grade: F

Name of Commissioner LotahkWebsite/C.com galleryhttp://stores.ebay.com/Lotahk-Cospla...id=p4340.l2568Character commissioned and series/video game Garlock Simon, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann; Entire cosplay except Boots and WigLinks to picture(s) of your commissioned item My coscom profile has pictures, more to come when I am done editing them though. Timeline First - Payment 2/11/11 Received Cosplay 3/3/11 Second (Jacket Only) Info needed to replace jacket received 3/23/11 Received 4/16/11Describe your Experience. I spoke with Lotahk through emails roughly a week before I payed for the cosplay. He really communicated well. I also asked him to change the color of the Haramaki from blue to black. (on the pictures on ebay he has the pants and Haramaki as the same color)

After wearing it though once at Zenkaikon, the jacket ripped around the underarms and the back shoulders. This was mainly due to the stances Simon does. Pointing to the heavens and the arms crossed. I contacted him after the convention and he replaced the entire jacket for free. I just received it yesterday (4/15/11) and tried the same posses and nothing. The jacket seems stronger this time and he understood and took into consideration the issues that made it rip. He didn't even have me pay a cent to replace the jacket, nor did he ask for the old jacket back.

Final Grade: A-
Even though their was an issue with the first jacket and it didn't hold up well to one day at a con, I felt that the entire experience was very well handled and resolved. I will update after I get to wear the new jacket at Otakon, but I don't think their will be any issues.

Name of Commissioner TeL / Blackmarket StudiosWebsite/C.com galleryhttp://www.wix.com/wtfcosplayers/blackmarket/siteCharacter commissioned and series/video game Apollo from Genesis of AquarionLinks to picture(s) of your commissioned item comingTimeline Comissioner approached me from a coscom advert on 9/7/2010. Details were ironed out and a 75% down-payment made on 9/9/2010. Deadline was End of November 2010. Costume was recieved on Feb 10, 2011. Sizing/final costume repair completed/recieved on April 4, 2011.

Describe your Experience. I posted an advert for this comission on coscom's marketplace and was approached by TeL directly about the job on behalf of her costuming group. They had a stellar portfolio and offered me a killer price for the work I wanted done. I had only one reservation: no feedback on coscom... So I took a day or two to dig around the forums and found a user who had delt with them before. She told me that her commission was incredibly late, but also that the work was beautiful and that she was satisfied. With this in mind, I set my deadline as the end of November when I really needed the costume in late December, and went ahead ironing out the details.

A 75% down payment was made through paypal and I was given a facebook account through which to contact the comissioner's boyfriend(?) Noel Catillo, who seemed to be handling the comission. He was not making the costume, rather "our seamstress" was (seamstress remained nameless and quiet throughout)... so anything said about the construction process came through him. He was simple enough to contact, but early on in the process seemed detatched and rather absent-minded about the whole thing.

Nov 12th and 27th I was promised progress images and "shipment soon" by TeL. Nothing came of this.

I emailed or messaged about once a month and then once every two weeks as the deadline approached to remind Noel that I was still waiting.

He contacted me on December 17th telling me that the costume was ready. Uh... great, but I was about to head out the door for 2 weeks to attend the event the costume was originally supposed to be worn at. I recieved this message on December 19th and asked him to wait until I returned to send the package after I got back in January as it was very likely it would miss me and be sent back or held by the post office.

On Jan 4th, I paid the balance attatched to a message about the costume.

Noel didn't notice the payment until I sent him a message on Jan 11th at which point he said he was now "processing" the transfer.

That is the last I heard from Noel.

No costume. No more contact.

So I switched from dealing with Noel to Krystal (TeL herself) and brought my issues to her directly.

Jan 25th I received her reply. On the 26th I had a tracking code.

When I recieved the costume there was a sizing issue (a dropped measurement on their requested measurements chart). I brought the issue to TeL and she promised the repair for the cost of shipping without my returning the fist pair. The repair was completed and photographed March 3. I received them in early April and was not required to pay any additional shipping. I also recieved the necklace and armband accessories at no extra charge.

Pros: The costume I recieved was spot-on to what I requested and the references I provided, complete with limited propwork ~ oversized shoes and the dreamcatcher accessory. Corners haven't been cut on construction either and the texturing on the vest and pants seems to be all hand-done. Colors are a good match and materials breathe well. It will be a great summer costume.

The price was, frankly, highway robbery. I would have expected to pay more to all but the most half-assed of Chinese factories for a custom job of any level of difficulty. What I recieved is, in my opinion, worth more than I paid for it.

Cons: It was 4 months late. Communication with Noel was pretty shitty and throughout the process I felt as though I was being shifted to the back burner in order to pursue personal cosplay projects, mall promotions, store openings, etc.

Given how late it was, it wasn't of much use at the event I intended it for... and since I didn't wait around on it, I haven't made any other plans for it. So now I have a costume with no purpose. I'm sure I'll find one eventually... but it did rather throw a wrench in things not to have it when I actually needed it ^^;;

I'm not sure how functional the oversized shoes are going to be in the way they were constructed (intact, flat, immovable soles made from foam).

The shipping was fast! I needed a long blonde wig for a Taokaka cosplay and con was only 2 weeks away. I heard iFunPlay had fast shipping so I decided to order from them and the wig came out great! It's well packaged, very soft, and for its price, the wig came out pretty thick.

Cons: None really. But the wig tangles a bit, but that's what's expected from a very long wig.

I ordered a Noctis wig from Fantasy Sheep, but the hooks broke and it was shedding like crazy, and the back was pretty thin. So I ordered a Noctis wig from Cosplay Wig and I was surprised at how fast it came (didn't have tracking number provided) and it was thicker than the Fantasy Sheep wig. It was also very soft.

Pros: Both wigs are in the same nice, natural-looking muted platinum blonde. The curls are well-set and the wigs look more or less like those that appear in the sample images on the website. Wigs are of average size and fit my head well.

Flandre's wig is one of the few designed for the character that (wisely) doesn't incorporate a clip-on bunce for the longer piece of hair. Since the character wears a hat which doesn't exactly work with clip-in extensions... this is a much better idea and an easier wig to work out the logistics behind.

Both wigs are heat resistant.

Cons: Wigs appear slightly longer on the model wig heads than they are in reality. Alice's in particular is quite short and falls only barely past my jaw. It's still suitable for the character, but creates a much rounder look than the length it appears to be on the wig head used by the site.

The wigs are also rather cheaply made and, as a result, are about half as thick as more expensive Japanese-brand wigs. They're wefted in such a way that no bald spots are obvious, but around the ears, in particular, it's easy for real hair to poke out. They'll need to be pinned for event wear.

The wig caps included are black... not suitable for wear with platinum blonde wigs.

For non-brand wigs, they were ridiculously expensive. But since the Chinese wig companies won't accept Japanese bank transfers directly and I haven't got a credit card, I didn't have much choice but to go through these guys.

Final Comments: Too expensive, a little short and a bit thin... but lovely styles and lots of well-set curls appropriate for the characters in question.

Name of Commissioner: The Five Wits
Website/C.com gallery :http://thefivewits.net/
Character commissioned and series/video game (please include if this was the entire costume, just a jacket, prop, accessory, wig, etc.): Ichimaru Gin Wig from bleach
Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item: i havent taken pictures of it yet so heres a link to its picture on the websitehttp://thefivewits.net/2011/03/pale-...endable-smile/
Timeline (how long your order took to process): order saturday , it shipped out monday and i got it in the mail today the 20th.
Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments.
Pros:
Omg the is a really beautiful color.
The wig cap resembles many of my other wigs
The fibers of the wig is soft i love it.
The color reminds me of tuti's from the musical
Really fast shipping
Really nice and understanding.

Pros: Its a very nice, soft wig. The style is exactly how it was pictured (for the most part). It was actually a rather large wig, too. I have a small head, so I had to put the clips on the tightest settings to get it to fit. No problem for me, but I know this is good news for the rest of the western world (my head is tinyyyyy).

The shipping was pretty quick, too. Two weeks exactly to get here, while the estimated date for it to arrive was sometime next week. Gotta love fast shipping.

Cons: This seems like a lot more than it is xDD;;

When it arrived, the hair seemed to be... I don't know, crunched together? Like hairspray or something. Due to that, I was scared to brush it out for fear the curls would be killed. I had to wear it that first photoshoot without ever brushing it out, too scared. Afterwards, since the wind tanlged it, I HAD TO brush it. And the curls stayed. Oh. Well fuck. xDD;; So the curls do stay if you brush it out, I just wish I'd known that before.

Nextly, the bangs are a bit different than they are in the picture. In the picture, they seem to 3D stick out a bit (just like my Italy wig from the same seller did). But these bangs just... wouldn't do that. They weren't styled the same way at the base, so they just kinda fell in my face. Not really a problem, since it looked good that way, but still something to keep in mind.

And the color of the wig isn't exactly right. I had the same problem with my Italy wig. The color is a bit more vibrant in person. The color of the France wig appears to be a tame blonde, when really the fibers are a bright yellow mixed with white to give it a more tame look. So really, just know it'll be a bit brighter in person. My Italy wig was the same way, appearing way more red in person. Neither are really a problem, considering the characters themselves are more vibrant, it just doesn't look as natural as you think it would.

Lastly, and this isn't really the seller's fault... I had issues with the tracking. I live in San Francisco. So I'm used to packages arriving here as soon as they hit the US. Like, tracking says it left Hong Kong, then it arrives in San Francisco usually about 5 days later. Well, for some odd reason, this hit New York instead. Thats NEVER happened to me before. Then it stayed in New York for a week before hitting here. Very very strange.

Also, the price on the wig could have been better. Considering its pretty much just a shoulder length, blonde wig with waves in it. But you know, its pretty, so I don't mind the price xDD;;

Final Comments: TL;DR: Beautiful wig, the bangs aren't as fluffy as I thought they'd be, and the color is more vibrant. But its still beautiful and worth the money spent.

Character commissioned and series/video game America from Hetalia axis powers revolutionary war variant

15-25 day order took two months

I ordered a revolutionary war variant of Hetalia's America from fm-anime from a friend who is a experienced cosplayer. Liked the price of it at the time and I figured I'd give her a go so I ordered it hoping it get here by a con that was coming up....no dice folks my cosplay came after 2 months after ordering it. Communication was somewhat sluggish, I had to have a friend find for me a alternate way to get ahold of her. She was nice though and put my head at ease times I asked about the cosplay. When it finally got here, I loved the quality, but putting it on...IT WAS SMALL ON ME! due to the wrong measurements I gave. Only got one message and no help with my cosplay top (cosplay only came with the top, no pants) and now currently stuck with a small cosplay i'm trying to sell. FM-anime.com I won't go back to.

Name of Commissioner: CosplayMandyWebsite/C.com Gallery:http://s530.photobucket.com/albums/dd347/cosplaymandy/Character commissioned and series/video game (please include if this was the entire costume, just a jacket, prop, accessory, wig, etc.):Freya Crescent from Final Fantasy IX, the coat (+metal arm pieces) and tabard.Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item:http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN0278.jpgTimeline (how long your order took to process): I sent my first email on Mar 1, 2011 and received my costume on April 23, 2011.Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, & Comments: After having a really bad experience with one cosplay commissioner earlier in the year, I decided to try and find a new merchant who would be willing to do the specifics on my coat. Fortunately, I found this forum and quickly started sending out emails asking for quotes on how much I could get my cosplay coat done for.

Mandy was the first to reply with quote. She was also able to give me separate quotes on items I was curious about having redone. One really great advantage I had with this commissioner was the fact she already made a Freya Crescent coat, which really helped me in deciding which quote to accept. Even though her quote was not the cheapest, it was the most reliable!

I gave her the specifics that I needed (fitted around the chest, buttons for the coat, slit in the front and back) and I was very surprised with the results. It was everything I asked for and more! The coat is made with a pleathery material while the inside is made more with a comfortable, silky pattern. It's very well made, especially now that it has a fitted structure that can fit more comfortably around my body. The color of the coat is also VERY close to the color of my original hat, so there won't be any need for rendering on my part. I'm also very ecstatic about the tabard as well! It has more of a balanced and equal shape while still being able to look slim and fitting. Mandy had also added little subtle clips on the coat so the tabard will stay in place comfortably.

There is not much of a con that I could give this commissioner without sounding completely nit picky about it. My only concern would be the rope that is at the end of the sleeve because it's so thin, but that's nothing I can't fix. Even with how fast my commission was finished, I just want to say that shipping can be very slow. The coat and tabard were shipped on April 5, 2011, but the package didn't arrive until April 23, 2011. This is because she lives in China, so I would give her time if you needed to commission something ASAP. My convention isn't until July 1st-4th, so I was in no rush to have this finished.

Overall, CosplayMandy was very quick when it came to answering emails, and before I could even worry about the progress of my coat, it was completely finished. I really appreciate the fact she was not only able to complete my commission, she was also able to fill in my personal demands as to what I wanted specifically done for it. She is more than willing to work out a payment plan, and she can be very casual and yet contain a professional conversation within emails. I would highly recommend this commissioner for anyone who is willing to have a quality cosplay. ♥

Name of Commissioner:cosplay fuWebsite/C.com galleryhttp://www.****This Website Link Has...m Spam****.comCharacter commissioned Len Kagamine [Regular, full costume]Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item:http://www.****This Website Link Has...+from+VocaloidTimeline I'm not sure but after they sent the mail it was shipped, it took like 2-3 days for it to arrive.Pros: Well made, design on the most part was accurate, they gave me a belt, arm band, leg band.Cons: It lacked detail and quality. The bass cleft on the chest didn't look anything like a bass cleft. The arm bands had circles and they were just button sewn on. The shirt was way to short. I lifted my arms a little bit everyone can see my stomach. The shorts were too small. My friend has ordered cosplays before and there really good. She measured and ordered but the shorts were too tight and I can barely move. Comments: I was very upset, it was my first bought cosplay and I was really excited but was upset with the results. I spent alot of money on it and it wasn't worth it. My friend always got great work but mine was just horrid. Final Grade: D+

Lastly, and this isn't really the seller's fault... I had issues with the tracking. I live in San Francisco. So I'm used to packages arriving here as soon as they hit the US. Like, tracking says it left Hong Kong, then it arrives in San Francisco usually about 5 days later. Well, for some odd reason, this hit New York instead. Thats NEVER happened to me before. Then it stayed in New York for a week before hitting here. Very very strange.

Many are re-routing to avoid Japan air due to the radiation issues. There have been instances of planes landing in the states that flew near Japan that set off the radiation detectors. A friend of mine works in the distribution and told me about the issue while I was discussing wigs taking longer to get to me from China. Her company has factories in China and told me about the re-route.

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Excuse me, Please and Thank You will get you far in life.

Name of Commissioner; fm-animeWebsite/C.com gallery;www.fm-anime.comCharacter commissioned and series/video game (please include if this was the entire costume, just a jacket, prop, accessory, wig, etc.); Ciel Phantomhive - Kuroshitsuji { Musical, The Most Beautiful Death in the World } I ordered everything but the shoes, stockings, the ring and the mask. The gloves in the picture are mine, though they sent me a pair {really didn't like those. xD}Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item;http://druellablackrosier.deviantart.com/#/d3eqp3zTimeline (how long your order took to process); We started talking about it around late November, ordered sometime during December? They started making it ... middle/late January. I don't think they usually take this long, but we previously discussed it. x]
It arrived April 22 {they said it would finish in March, but I guess I had to count Chinese New Year and the huge amount of changes I kept making in the middle. XD} But to make up for the delay, she wanted to have it shipped overnight, but I wouldn't let her do it. xDDescribe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments. The process overall, this being my first cosplay order, was pretty pleasant. Venus, who I was talking to, was really nice and helped me a lot through the process. Even after I made some major changes halfway through, they still managed to have it done. The replies were prompt, most of the time. Towards the end, the replies got less and less, and really started to freak me out a little, but she replied like... 2 weeks later, saying that she was on a trip to China and internet isn't very good there.
The costume itself was really amazing. They followed most of my instructions to the letter. The colours matched exactly to the ones I sent them. I really wasn't expecting that. They also managed to find rose buttons that I requested and added all the lace.
The cons about the costume were the epaulettes and the hat. The epaulettes were supposed to be blue in the centre, but it came out silver. It's okay, since the references for this outfit were mostly pretty hard to figure out. But the button on the left epaulette {I think I might be spelling it wrong... } where the rope thingie goes popped off while I was trying to fix the rope. The sewing was not bad, but you can see little sewing bits on the inside of the coat.
The hat... well, it's not every easy to find a company that can make mini hats. I love the butterfly pins they used, but the hat itself looked odd. It's like, half of what I wanted, but the other half sticks up in this really wierd triangle. It also doesn't really stay in place on my head. I asked them to put either a clip or a comb under the hat, but there was none. I can easily fix that though. x]
Measurements;
It might be me, but the pants&bustle they sent were HUGE. Really, really, big. I had to safety pin them. The shirt was a little short, but otherwise, it's okay.
The wig is very soft and very like human hair. The curly pigtails tangles really easily though. I'm still trying to straighten the pigtails. The base wig doesn't really fit on my head, but that might just be me. The colour also matches the picture very well.
The price was also fair. The fabric I had them use was English Wool {instead of gold velvet, which she really thought would turn out beautiful. I probably should've listened, but eh. I look horrible in velvet. xD} and some sort of sateen/satin for the black parts.
The wig was... $47, I think and the costume was $105/110. The shipping was... $75, or something, for both, but there was some monthly promotion, so in the end, the whole thing+shipping was $198.Final Grade; B++++ {Would be an A- if not for the tangly wig, that one button that popped off and the huge pants&bustle}